Searching for Meaning

Determining Importance

“If we want children to be deeply engaged in

conversations about issues of great

significance in books, we must not only teach them

how to read, but show them how to reason.”

Ellin Keene

“We have an abundance of information, but information alone is meaningless. It has

to be thought about and organized and then

internalized, and then maybe you will end up with

knowledge.”7 Keys to Comprehension, Susan

Zimmermann

How Do I Determine What Is Important When

I Read?

Clue One: Readers determine what is important based on their

purpose for reading.

When reading difficult text without a purpose, students express complaints such as

• I just say the words so I can be done.

• I can’t relate to the topic.

• I daydream and my mind wanders.

• I can’t stay focused.

• I get bored.

Why Is It Important to Have a Purpose?

1. Read “The House” and circle with pencil whatever you think is important.

2. Read the piece again and use a pink highlighter to mark places in the text that a robber would find important.

3. Read the piece a third time and mark with a yellow highlighter any places in the story that a prospective home buyer might think are important.

4. What did you notice about the three times you highlighted?

Clue Two: Readers determine what is important

in text at the word, sentence, and text levels.

• Word Level: Contentives are words that hold the meaning in any sentence.

• Sentence Level: There are usually key sentences that carry the weight of meaning for a passage or section.

• Text Level: There are key ideas, concepts, themes in the text.

Clue Three: When determining importance in informational text, think of

the following:• What clues does the author provide

to allow the reader to construct meaning from the text?

• What clue words will help me when I read?

• Which information is unimportant and which ideas are key to constructing meaning?

“I read everything the same way. It doesn’t matter if it is

my science book or Sports Illustrated. What’s the

point? Reading is reading.”

Luke, grade 10, I Read It, but I Don’t Get It

Fiction Nonfiction

•Not a real story-the story is make-believe•Pictures are drawings•Stories have a beginning, middle, and ending•Tell a story•Characters are people and animals

•The story is real-it actually exists•There are photographs in the book•Tells us information•Teaches us something•Has lots of convention-photographs, labels, types of print (bold), close-ups, etc.

Strategy Getting My Mind Ready to Read Fiction

Getting My Mind Ready to Read Informational

TextGuessing/

Predicting

What will probably happen in this story?

What will I probably learn from this text?

Connecting What experiences have I had or what other books have I read that might relate to this story in some way?

What do I already know about this topic?

Questioning What will the problem be?

How will the problem get solved?

What questions will this text probably answer? Are there subheadings that I can turn into questions?

Determin-ing Importance

What other clues do I notice in this story that can help me: Do I know anything about the author or the topic?Are there many pages?

What clues do I notice in the way this text is written that might help me: Subheading? Bolded or italicized words?

Getting My Mind Ready to Read:

Applying Comprehension Strategies to Fiction and Nonfiction

What Does Content Area Reading Require?

• Knowledge of specialized vocabulary• Background knowledge• Study and memory techniques• Comprehension strategies for nonfiction texts• Monitoring meaning• Knowledge of sources and the reliability of

them• The ability to overcome a personal lack of

interest in the subject area and/or reading and writing to learn.

Tools for Teaching Content Literacy by Janet Allen

Which Nonfiction Features Signal Importance?

• Fonts and effects

• Cue words and phrases

• Text structures

• Graphics• Text

organizers• Illustrations

and photographs

Nonfiction Conventions

Convention Purpose1. Photographs –

pictures in the book

2. Labels-words that identify parts of a picture

3. Types of print- ways words are written

4. Captions-speech bubbles

5. Close-ups-photographs

Helps reader understand what something looks like

Helps the reader identify the parts of a picture

The words are bigger so you know that they are more important

Helps reader understand the photo

Helps reader see small details

Four Secrets to Figuring Out Main Idea

• Put yourself in the author’s place.• Examine the words and phrases (the details) for

clues to what is important.• Ask questions about what, in your experience,

the clues combined seem to say about what is valued.

• Decide what the main idea is by saying, “If I had written this and said things this way, what would that say about what I thought was important?”

How Does Overviewing, Skimming and Scanning the Text, Help Understanding?

• Activating prior knowledge• Noting characteristics of text length and

structure• Noting important headings and subheadings• Determining what to read and in what order• Determining what to pay careful attention to• Determining what to ignore• Deciding if the text is worth careful reading or

just skimming

Skimming and Scanning

First Impressions

Fast Facts Final Thoughts

Tools for Teaching Content Literacy by Janet Allen

What Guidelines Are There for Highlighting the Text?

• Look carefully at the first and last line of each paragraph. Important information is often contained there.

• Highlight only necessary words and phrases, not entire sentences.

• Don’t get thrown off by interesting details.• Make notes in the margin to emphasize a pertinent

highlighted word or phrase.• Note cue words.• Pay attention to nonfiction features.• When finished, no more than half the paragraph should

be highlighted.

Highlight and Revisit

Quote highlighted

Reason for highlighting

New or deeper thinking

Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?, Cris Tovani

Text Codes

• l – Important• L- Learned Something

New• *- Interesting or important

information or face• AHA!- Big Idea Surfaces• S- Surprising!• S!!!- Shocking• !!!- Exciting

Discerning What Is Interesting from What Is Important

What’s Interesting What’s Important

Topic

*Record headings

Details

*Include details supporting the

topic

Personal Response

*Add to the back of sheet when students are

ready

Sifting the Topic from the Details

Reading Persuasive Material Carefully to Form an Opinion

Evidence For Evidence Against

Personal Opinion

• Notice what the character says or does that provides what is important to him/her.

• Pay attention to the actions, motives, and feelings of the character.

• Think about what the author did to make the character believable.

• Decide which characters are primary and which are secondary. Compare and contrast those characters.

• Notice when the setting changes in a story.• Decide if the setting is an integral part of

the story or if it could have taken place anywhere.

Clue Four: When determining importance in fiction, think of the

following:

• Determine the theme(s) of the story.• Determine which details contribute to the

problem and/or the solution to it.• Pay attention to the conflict. Characterize it

as character vs. character, character vs. nature, character vs. society, or character vs. self.

• Notice the clues that the author provides to let the reader know what is going to happen next.

• See if and how the author builds suspense.• Decide what seems realistic and what does

not.

• Think of the tone of the story.• Contemplate what the author’s

purpose was for writing the story.• Decide from what point of view the

story is told.• Think about the plot structure and

characterize it as episodic, progressive, or are there parallel plots that build at the same time.

Constructing Meaning by Nancy Boyles

Identifying the Theme

Theme Evidence for Theme

Strategies That Work by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis

Determining Important Events

Important Event Evidence from the Text

Strategies That Work by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis

Character Analysis

Character’s Motivation

Evidence from Text

Strategies That Work by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis

What Is Important in the Text?

What is important and what is

interesting to me?

What is the author’s message? What is he trying to say?

I Read It, but I Don’t Get It by Cris Tovani

Clue Five: When Determining Importance in Poetry, Think of

the Following:•Note any clues in the title that may help determine importance.

•Think about the poet and any other works that may provide information about the poet’s style.

•Conclude what you think the poet’s purpose was.

•Determine the meanings of key words

and phrases.

Determining Importance in Poetry (continued)

• Construct meaning from any use of figurative language.

• Decide upon messages or themes of the poem, whether they are overtly stated or hidden.

• Reflect upon feelings after reading

the poem.

How Do I Know If a Student Has Successfully Solved the

Mystery of Determining Importance in Reading?

Assessing with the Major Point Interview for

Readers • Are there some parts of this text that are

more important than the others? Which ones? Why do you think they were the most important?

• What do you think the author thought was most important so far in this text? Why do you think so?

• We have just discussed important parts of the text. (Restate child’s response.) What do you understand now that you didn’t understand before?

“Good strategy lessons are not over until students have

discussed their learning process.”

Nancy N. Boyles